Amateur drone operators soon could face high-tech barriers

Something weird happened to Duncan Sinfield’s drone shortly after he was told by a security guard to stop flying over a tech company’s campus in the heart of Silicon Valley.

It flew off, defying attempts to control it, and headed for a watery demise.

“It mysteriously crashed into the bay near Redwood City and sank,” said Sinfield, a television news assignment editor who in the past few years has used his drone to chronicle the valley’s tech boom, posting his personal flyover videos on YouTube.

“I watched it go down at full speed, even as I was using my thumb to raise elevation. It was as if there were some invisible hand controlling it” … MORE